Storm Bella: More than a thousand homes still without power

More than a thousand homes and businesses remained without power on Monday morning after Storm Bella hit Ireland over the weekend.

Storm Bella hit Ireland on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning with rain and strong winds in many places.

Customers in counties Cork, Kerry, Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal and Louth remained without power on Monday morning with clusters of power outages along Ireland’s western coast.

In Claregalway, more than 400 customers were still without power while another 250 homes and businesses also without power around the area of Moy on Monday morning. More than 200 customers living between Westport and Castlebar had no power on Monday while more than 300 customers living in the town of Bruff in Co Limerick also were without power.

Further south in Co Cork, more than 430 customers in Bantry also had no power on Monday morning.

An ESB spokesman said the network had experienced a “normal, blustery evening for this time of year” on Sunday and that ESB crews had been “mobilised to repair any faults to the network”.

Weather warnings remained in place on Monday for most western and northern counties with status yellow wind warnings in place for counties Donegal, Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Cork and Kerry until 2pm on Monday afternoon.

Met Éireann warned that northwesterly winds associated with Storm Bella could reach mean speeds of 50-65km/h with gusts of 90-110km/h. The combination of strong winds, high waves and forecasted storm surge could also lead to coastal flooding, warned the forecaster.

In Northern counties, rain, sleet and snow was expected to move south through Sunday night leaving icy surfaces and causing travel disruption on Monday morning. A status yellow wind and ice warning affecting counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry expired at 10am on Monday.

Monday is set to be a blustery day with widespread showers of rain or hail, some snow on higher ground and highest temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees. Some showers will be prolonged with a risk of spot flooding but there will also be drier and brighter spells in the east and far west.

Monday night will be cold with frost and icy patches in some areas while Tuesday will see sunny spells and scattered showers with a chance of snow in some parts.

AA Roadwatch advised drivers to take care on wet and frosty road surfaces which make it difficult to slow down and brake. Road users should also expect wind-blown debris on all routes and give extra room to other road users, especially pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, said AA.

In Co Kerry, diversions are in place on the Tralee/Ballybunion Road just south of Ballyduff at the turn off for the Causeway as emergency services remove a fallen tree, while more fallen trees have been cleared from the N70 Ring of Kerry between Kenmare and Blackwater, according to the AA newsroom. A tree has also been cleared on the N86 between Camp and Dingle.